The Sigma Chi fraternity chapter at UCLA was suspended Monday and ordered to do community service after members painted slogans and a crude depiction of abortion on a motor home bound for a football game. The Interfraternity Council, the governing body of the university's fraternities, prohibited Sigma Chi from social activities, including Homecoming, for the remainder of the fall quarter, which ends in mid-December.

A fraternity member won the USC student body president election Tuesday night, continuing a pattern of male undergraduate leaders at the school. Andrew Menard, who serves in student government and is the social chair of Sigma Chi, and his running mate, Rini Sampath, who is not a member of a Greek organization, received 44% of the vote, according to student media. Another ticket headed by a fraternity member finished second with about 29% of the ballots. It's unclear how the third team on the ballot did. The presidential candidate on that ticket, James White, is not part of the Greek system but his running mate was. The complete election results will be available later in the week. Fraternity members have generally claimed the USC student presidency recently, which is not unusual at large campuses with Greek systems.

Is it possible that frat boys could be so vile and disgusting, so drunk and disorderly, so utterly contemptuous of civility and good taste -- so egregiously out of control -- that their fraternity big brothers would shut down their frat house? For the rowdy lads at Miami University's Sigma Chi International chapter, thumbing their noses at society has finally had consequences. They got the ax this week from the fraternity's national executive committee, which ordered the Miami chapter shut down.

Everybody remembers those crazy hazing days of yore in college fraternities. Poor pledges were forced to swallow goldfish, chug large quantities of beer and perform other acts of insanity that wound up getting a few of them killed. In the spirit of today's more civilized college youth, the Sigma Chis at Cal State Northridge have come up with an alternative to Hell Week. Call it Heck Week.

The spring social season was in full swing along the University of Maine's fraternity row, with a beer bust at Phi Delta Theta, a beer and barbecue party at Sigma Nu, the usual weekend-long flood of suds at Delta Tau Delta, and at Sigma Chi, an evening of . . . milk and cookies. "There were a lot of women here, and they all seemed to be having a great time," said fraternity president Tyler Batteese. "It was a great success."

State park authorities said Thursday that they will call for the prosecution of each of the 27 University of San Diego fraternity members who participated in a cross-burning ritual last month that threatened the rare trees of Torrey Pines State Reserve. Originally, rangers said they would level misdemeanor charges only against one or two members of Sigma Chi fraternity--those considered most responsible for the act. But, upon further investigation of the incident that occurred on May 20, authorities determined that each participant is equally at fault.

A fraternity member won the USC student body president election Tuesday night, continuing a pattern of male undergraduate leaders at the school. Andrew Menard, who serves in student government and is the social chair of Sigma Chi, and his running mate, Rini Sampath, who is not a member of a Greek organization, received 44% of the vote, according to student media. Another ticket headed by a fraternity member finished second with about 29% of the ballots. It's unclear how the third team on the ballot did. The presidential candidate on that ticket, James White, is not part of the Greek system but his running mate was. The complete election results will be available later in the week. Fraternity members have generally claimed the USC student presidency recently, which is not unusual at large campuses with Greek systems.

The campus police detective who arrested San Diego State linebacker Tracey Mao on two assault charges called the attack of a man in the parking lot of a taco shop "a senseless act." "It was even more unprovoked than the first assault," San Diego State police detective Thomas Boyer said Thursday, referring to the back-to-back incidents Sunday night.

Park rangers who discovered about 30 University of San Diego fraternity members participating in a cross-burning ritual last weekend at Torrey Pines State Reserve said Tuesday that they plan to recommend prosecution of the group's leaders. "We will recommend to the city attorney that one or two of the fraternity members who emerged as the leaders, or were most responsible for the act, be prosecuted," said Jim Van Schmus, chief ranger for the reserve. The youths would probably face misdemeanor charges of starting an illegal fire.

Times staff writer Dean E. Murphy, the Johannesburg, South Africa, bureau chief, has won the foreign correspondence award in the Society of Professional Journalists' 1998 Sigma Delta Chi journalism competition. Murphy's award, announced Tuesday, recognizes five stories. Their subjects include the spread of AIDS to African children by rape, last summer's embassy bombings in Kenya, and South Africa's affluent criminals.

Times staff writer Richard E. Meyer has won the magazine reporting prize in the Society of Professional Journalists' 1995 Sigma Delta Chi journalism awards. Meyer's award, announced Thursday by the society, recognizes his Dec. 17 cover story for the Los Angeles Times Magazine on Julia Tavalaro, a woman paralyzed so severely by a stroke that she is able to communicate only through slight eye and head movements. To tell Tavalaro's story, Meyer spent nearly 450 hours interviewing her.

The spring social season was in full swing along the University of Maine's fraternity row, with a beer bust at Phi Delta Theta, a beer and barbecue party at Sigma Nu, the usual weekend-long flood of suds at Delta Tau Delta, and at Sigma Chi, an evening of . . . milk and cookies. "There were a lot of women here, and they all seemed to be having a great time," said fraternity president Tyler Batteese. "It was a great success."

The campus police detective who arrested San Diego State linebacker Tracey Mao on two assault charges called the attack of a man in the parking lot of a taco shop "a senseless act." "It was even more unprovoked than the first assault," San Diego State police detective Thomas Boyer said Thursday, referring to the back-to-back incidents Sunday night.

State park authorities said Thursday that they will call for the prosecution of each of the 27 University of San Diego fraternity members who participated in a cross-burning ritual last month that threatened the rare trees of Torrey Pines State Reserve. Originally, rangers said they would level misdemeanor charges only against one or two members of Sigma Chi fraternity--those considered most responsible for the act. But, upon further investigation of the incident that occurred on May 20, authorities determined that each participant is equally at fault.

Park rangers who discovered about 30 University of San Diego fraternity members participating in a cross-burning ritual last weekend at Torrey Pines State Reserve said Tuesday that they plan to recommend prosecution of the group's leaders. "We will recommend to the city attorney that one or two of the fraternity members who emerged as the leaders, or were most responsible for the act, be prosecuted," said Jim Van Schmus, chief ranger for the reserve. The youths would probably face misdemeanor charges of starting an illegal fire.

As fraternity men ran shouting through the halls to awaken their sleeping brothers, fire swept through the Sigma Chi fraternity house near the University of Southern California early this morning, destroying much of one wing of the building on Fraternity Row. Red Cross spokesman Ralph Wright said it was "definitely very lucky" that only three people were injured in the 2:54 a.m.

Is it possible that frat boys could be so vile and disgusting, so drunk and disorderly, so utterly contemptuous of civility and good taste -- so egregiously out of control -- that their fraternity big brothers would shut down their frat house? For the rowdy lads at Miami University's Sigma Chi International chapter, thumbing their noses at society has finally had consequences. They got the ax this week from the fraternity's national executive committee, which ordered the Miami chapter shut down.

Everybody remembers those crazy hazing days of yore in college fraternities. Poor pledges were forced to swallow goldfish, chug large quantities of beer and perform other acts of insanity that wound up getting a few of them killed. In the spirit of today's more civilized college youth, the Sigma Chis at Cal State Northridge have come up with an alternative to Hell Week. Call it Heck Week.

As fraternity men ran shouting through the halls to awaken their sleeping brothers, fire swept through the Sigma Chi fraternity house near the University of Southern California early this morning, destroying much of one wing of the building on Fraternity Row. Red Cross spokesman Ralph Wright said it was "definitely very lucky" that only three people were injured in the 2:54 a.m.